First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Has $30.12 Million Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 80,232 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,483 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 6.5% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,496,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,345,000 after buying an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock worth $737,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intellus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,075,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,350 shares of company stock valued at $21,493,447. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.6%

MSFT stock opened at $520.58 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.17, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $500.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $439.91.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The firm's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.

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